


Paper Rings

by ScribblesInTheMargins



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Victuuri - Freeform, Fake Fake Dating, Kinda post canon, Light Angst, M/M, Omega Yuri Plisetsky, Omegaverse, Victuuri are coaching, minor omega discrimination, omega kenjiro, secret omega dynamic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:15:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22163167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribblesInTheMargins/pseuds/ScribblesInTheMargins
Summary: Chapter 1 is Day 2 (travel) of YOI Rare Pair WeekChapter 2 is Day 4 (winter)Chapter 3 is Day 5 (Bad Decisions)Chapter 4 is Day 6 (Pets / Domestic Life)Chapter 5 is Day 7 (Free day)This is a love story between omega Minami Kenjiro & omega Yuri PlisetskyAt the height of his career, Yuri isn't going to let his continued skating hold Yakov and Lilia back from the retirement they both so deserve.  He relocates to Japan, still managing to hide his secondary gender.  Continuing to skate, maybe his entire life doesn't have to be only on the ice.  Maybe he doesn't have to lock everyone out.
Relationships: Minami Kenjirou/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 73
Kudos: 66
Collections: YOI Rare Pair Week 2020





	1. Finding a new home

The one thing Yuri didn't like about being a skater was the travel. So much travel here and there and back again and Aeroflot was the worst. He was tired. Russian Nationals was over though and it was the holidays.

He relaxed as he felt the plane land, the wheels hit the tarmac and then the squeal of brakes. So many times he was on some plane landing somewhere but this time he was in Japan. It would be a short train ride from here and then he'd be where he wanted to be.

His grandfather was spending the holidays at his brother's, but Yuri had never gotten along with those cousins, so he was here. Soon the plane pulled up to the gate and he was grabbing his skate bag from the overhead -- that was never checked luggage. Then he leaned down to pick up the leopard print pet carrier, softly whispering in Russian to the sable pointed Ragdoll in there. This wasn't going to be a short visit.

Two days until New Years. He was on a late flight, so he'd be arriving in Hasetsu in the wee hours of the 31st. It was good though, he could nap on the train a little. He had gotten very good in his life at sleeping very lightly. 

There was just something he loved about Japan more than any of the other places he traveled. It wasn't home like Russia, but the lights and all the glass and being able to get just about anything he wanted from a vending machine … yeah, he liked this. Once he had collected his Checked bag, he grabbed a bottle of water and some chocolate from the vending machines before making his way to the train station.

Potya was slung over his shoulder, the sedatives had worn off, but there wasn't much he could do about that at the moment. Once he was on the train, he sent a quick text out to everyone, when it was Katsuki Hiroko who texted back that she'd stay up until he arrived, he wasn't surprised. With a thank you, he pulled out the magazine he had grabbed from the stand he walked by. Maybe it should be a surprise that he was on the cover of a Japanese skating magazine, but it really wasn't. That there were alpha, beta, and omega symbols over his head with question marks -- yeah, that meant he had to read this. He always liked to keep on top of what people were saying.

His Japanese was a little out of practice, but he needed to work on it, so once he was in the semi-private compartment on the train, he gave Potya more medicine and then settled in to read.

> *****
> 
> Name: Yuri Plisetsky
> 
> Country: Russia
> 
> Date of Birth: March 1st
> 
> Age: 19
> 
> Height: 175cm
> 
> Blood Type: B
> 
> Sex: Male
> 
> Secondary: unknown
> 
> *****

All of that was information that Yuri knew. He also knew exactly who knew his secondary gender, and he knew those people were not talking. There were maybe seven people. One was his doctor. Other than that, there were two or three officials with the Russian skating federation then another one at the ISU level -- which left his grandfather as well as Yakov and Lilia.

Sure there were people who speculated. After his growth spurt, he had ended up at a short height for an alpha, or a tall height for an omega and an average height for a beta. Few people thought he was a beta though. Almost everyone was always arguing over whether he was an omega or an alpha, and Yuri liked to keep it that way. He could switch from behavior associated with one to behavior associated with the other without any pauses, so it kept people guessing.

He had the jumps of an alpha and the flexibility of an omega. He'd made it through his growth spurt better than omegas did, but still, no one knew for sure what he was.

The rest of the article didn't contain any information. It didn't even talk about him moving to Japan to train -- but the retirement of Yakov hadn't been made too public -- at least not yet. The thought was that Yakov would retire when Yuri did, but the man was tired. He had taught for so many years, he deserved his retirement. Maybe that explained why Yuri had brought Potya with instead of Lilia cat sitting. Maybe this stay was going to be longer than would make sense to leave his cat behind. He wasn't sure. This was just a trial. The fact was, Yakov and Lilia were on vacation together, and Yuri wasn't going to see either of them until Europeans at the earliest.

He tossed the magazine into his bag and curled up on the seat, his head near the window so he could watch the distance go by. Maybe this was a homecoming. He didn't know. The late-night train wasn't full at least, so he had plenty of room. He knew how he looked in Japan. He had ended up almost two full centimeters taller than Yuuri, the very alpha Yuuri. Japanese skaters had to declare their secondary to leave juniors. Russian skaters never had to declare theirs. Yuri saw no reason to give that information if he didn't have to.

His eyes drifted shut, the rhythmic motion of the train lulling him to sleep. He needed the rest. He had left right after nationals. All of his dirty clothes were in the suitcase, he'd need to do laundry tomorrow. Tonight, he slept on the train as it traveled to the place that might be home.

* * *

Six hours later, it was just after 1 AM as he approached the Katsuki family's onsen. It wasn't a hotel, but there were rooms, just a few. One of those was reserved tonight for him. As he walked up the walkway, he saw the door open, the smiling omega woman in the doorway now waving as she saw Yuri approach. He should have known when she had said she'd wait up that she had meant more than that. He was hugged and fussed over and then fed -- even as she took his dirty clothes to wash in the morning. He was left in just the comfortable clothes of the onsen and it felt amazing.

He was tired, so soon he was shown where his room was and his skate bag was tossed in the corner so he could pull a rather disgruntled Potya out of her bag. It had been a long trip for her, but once fed and given water and a clean litter box, she seemed as if she would forgive him.

Not long after that, Yuri was sound asleep, Potya tucked to his side, both worn out from the long trip.

* * *

The next morning, Yuri woke up earlier than he wanted -- but he'd never been good at sleeping through things. He wasn't sure what was going out in the main part of the onsen, but whatever it was, it was loud.

Leaving Potya to continue sleeping in the warm bed, He walked out of his room towards the noise. Noise might mean food after all. It had been a while since he had worn these clothes, and it was nice, familiar -- different but still so good.

When he reached the main room, chaos didn't even begin to describe. Triplets, now eleven years old, were running around and yelling. Makka was there -- bouncing and barking. Victor was whining about something. Yuri was overreacting and shushing everyone as he yelled about how to be quiet because 'Yurio' was still sleeping. Minami was going off on something or another.

Yuri rolled his eyes, walking into the rule, "Honestly, piggie, how could I sleep through all of this?" He crossed the room as he hugged Yuuri. It had been too long since he had seen his friends. He was passed to Victor for another hug, and then Minami hugging him -- then the triplets. He paused as he was looking at Minami, the young man suddenly so quiet. Minami had retired last season. There was always such a pressure for omegas to retire once they 'reached a certain age'. Yuri thought that pressure was bullshit. Kenjirou was just looking back at him, silent and honey-colored eyed blinking. "Yes?"

"You got … tall."

Yuri stood up, blinking at that. He wasn't that tall. Well, not by Russian standards. He was almost two centimeters taller than Yuuri, but Victor was still taller than him. 

"You got prettier."

Yuri wasn't sure which of the girls had said that, but he didn't think he looked particularly pretty right now. He hadn't even brushed his hair before .... he hadn't done anything before coming out here. Fleeing now would look too suspicious, but he suddenly realized that he had let his guard down and hadn't reapplied his scent blockers. "Shush. I look like a mess. I flew straight here." There was some truth to it, he knew how he looked. His image was carefully constructed and maintained. Lilia had taught him well.

Shaking his head, he walked back to his room under the pretense of 'making himself presentable.' What it really was though was a chance to put on some scent blockers.

Subtle. Everything about Yuri's look was subtle now. The slightest of color around his eyes, the slightest darkening of his lashes, the simple concealing of any blemishes. His hair was now longer, several inches past his shoulder and while normally he did something with it, today he just threw it up into a simple ponytail.

When he rejoined everyone, Kenjirou was watching him, eyes wide and the girls were whispering. Hiroko was setting out breakfast, so Yuri went to her, giving her a quick hug and thank you before sitting at the table -- unfortunately next to Victor. 

"Yurio?" Yuuri was the first one to say something, "Are you coming with us to the rink today?" 

"Yeah. I need to work out this stiffness from the travel."

"How long are you staying, Yuri?" This time it was Victor.

"I don't know." He shrugged, looking around the table. "Kenjiro retired, so you don't have a lot of seniors."

"Here?" 

Yuri shrugged as near everyone said it at the table. "Yakov is retired. He didn't think I'd skate as long as I have and -- I can't make him keep coaching for longer."

"Of course you are more than welcome here, Yurio!' Yuuri was the one to say something, eyes wide with shock. "We'd love to have you!" 

There were three of them coaching here. Now that Kenjiro had retired from competitive skating, he was coaching there as well. "We'll see. I -- I didn't have anywhere else really to go, and if I didn't go someplace, Yakov would felt he had to keep coaching, so ..."

As he said it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and let his eyes close. Hiroko's voice soft and gentle, "Of course you are welcome here. You're family."

It might have taken him a while to truly believe that, but now he did. Hiroko had taken that surly little teenager that had shown up on her door and accepted him and all his loudness.

The shock of the news wore off soon enough. It was the middle of the season, no matter what, there wasn't a vacation. Even if it was New Year's Eve.

The hours went by fast. Most classes were canceled, but the serious students were there -- Victor had one student going to the Four Continents, and there were a few doing other competitions soon in the junior circuit.

Finally, training sessions were mostly over and Yuri skated over to the small table that Victor was using for the laptop with the music. Reaching over, he grabbed the audio cable to plug it into his phone, starting his music on a delay. He wouldn't be doing the jumps, but it was always a good plan to run through your music. He closed his eyes on center ice, waiting for the first notes to sound and then he was moving. It was the same free skate as he had won with all year, but with the jumps only marked.

When he finished, all eyes were on him. Then there was cheering and he was waving as he skated back to his phone. Maybe he should have seen it coming, but he didn't. Suddenly Yuuri was right next to him, "It's New Year's Eve, Yurio, you should do something fun tonight."

"Fun?"

"Yeah, fun. Why don't you go with Kenjiro to the party tonight?"

"Party?" 

Even as Kenjiro was blinking, stunned as he looked at Yuuri and Yuri, Victor leaned in from the other side, slipping to Russian as he whispered, "We'd feel better if Kenjiro wasn't out alone -- being an omega and everything."

Yuri sighed, loudly as he glared at Victor. "That is a stupid reason."

"Yurio, it would be good for you to go have some fun." This time it was Yuuri's honest tone and Yuri knew there was no fighting that.

"Fine." He looked over at Kenjiro, frowning, "What are we doing and what do I have to wear?"

That was how, hours later, Yuri was in his room, frowning at the mirror as he tried to decide if what he was wearing was right. It was at a club. He had not brought clubwear. He thought he owned clubwear -- in a box someplace in Lilia's house.

What he did have was back up skating clothes. Thankfully, some of those skating clothes included skin-tight fake leather pants. While they gave him total flexibility, the fabric still made it look painted on. On top of that was a tight fuschia tank top, that yes, he had borrowed from Mari. over that just a white button-up -- loose and unbuttoned. 

Eyes painted to match the top, he walked out, hair pulled back, half up and half down and knowing that this look would do exactly what he wanted -- keep people guessing.

It wasn't long before he was at the club, a glass of champagne in his hand and Minami on his arm as he escorted the older man through the crowd. Yuri had realized something very quickly, they were here in lieu of Yuuri and Victor. This was too nice for it to just be something that hadn't had an invite list. 

"Victor and Yuuri turned them down?" He leaned in, not too far but enough to be heard over the music.

"Yeah! They're having a romantic night alone." Kenjiro was nearly bouncing and was decidedly keeping a hold on Yuri's arm.

As Kenjiro was called over by someone, Yuri ended up with people around him -- and he knew these people to some degree. He was being asked sports questions and why was he in Japan. He just smiled, answered their questions as vaguely as possible. 

By the time he refound Kenjiro, the man was surrounded by alphas. Yuri felt himself bristle as he saw the body language of the man. Every movement screamed 'omega that was uncomfortable' and Yuri hated that. He saw the shrugs and the way the man's head moved, deferring to the three alphas around him. He saw the tension and the discomfort and Yuri knew exactly what he had to do.

Barging into the group, he grabbed the man's arm. "What did I say about wandering off!" Of course, he had never said anything. He growled at the alphas, about the same height as two of them, but the other one was bigger than him. "He's here with me."

He started to lead Kenjiro off when he felt someone grab his shoulder. Without looking he smacked the hand off of him.

"Hey! We were talking to him." The biggest of the alphas was glaring down at him.

"And I said he's with me." He let himself stand up straighter, glaring right back at the man.

They stood like that, squaring off as others stopped to look. Yuri could feel how Kenjiro was gripping onto him, and he knew exactly how this looked. He couldn't look away. He couldn't break eye contact. He knew that about alphas -- never break eye contact.

As the crowd grew silent, suddenly security moved in to get between them before anything could happen. They were both ushered back as security intervened before a fight could happen. As soon as it was safe, Yuri took hold of Kenjiro's arm, leading him over to a booth where a waitress brought them appetizers and more champagne

As everyone looked to the screens showing the Tokyo tower and counted down the final moments of the year, Yuri closed his eyes. He had Kenjiro tight against him, curled up into his side. He held the man a little closer, sighing as he looked back to the screens, watching as the fireworks lit up the sky. The club erupted in noise as people kissed and celebrated.

Then, with his attention elsewhere, he missed how Kenjiro had moved -- but as soon as he looked back to the man he felt his lips captured in a champagne flavored kiss. Before he could draw away, he felt fingers in his hair. His eyes closing, he wrapped an arm around Kenjiro, pulling him in tighter as they kissed in the booth. It had been so long since he'd kissed someone.

Soft lips, soft hands, the way the man purred softly. He knew he had to stop this though. He was here to keep the man safe from creeps like those alphas by the bar. He wasn't here to take advantage. Slowly he pulled back, not able to say a word as he looked into those soft honey eyes. "Come on. It's late, let's get you home."

"I can't, promised not to be home until 2..." The way the man's bottom lip trembled was endearing.

"Shhh, come on. We're going back to the onsen." He didn't know who was promised, but he was willing to bet that was Victor and Yuuri's 'date night', so he'd take the man back to the onsen. 

As they walked out, Kenjiro leaning heavily on him, he heard people yelling and then he saw the flash of photographs. He should have known. There was nothing to do about it now -- too many pictures of tonight already existed. He just pulled the man closer to him as he led them into a cab. They'd figure everything out in the morning. He was tired. Kenjiro was drunk. The onsen seemed like the best idea.

He knew he shouldn't, but he placed a soft kiss on the top of the man's head. He really was a beautiful omega, delicate in all the right ways.

That night, Yuri went to sleep on the floor. He had taken one blanket and his pillow, but other that, Kenjiro was securely tucked into the bed. Yuri would sleep on the floor. He almost checked social media, but he was much too tired for that. He'd deal with all of that in the morning.

What he didn't know was that at some point in the night, Kenjiro would wake up just enough to gather the blankets and build a nest around them both before wedging himself drunkenly into Yuri's embrace. For the first time in years, Yuri slept in, comfortable in the nest of blankets with the scent of omega in his arms.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rare pair day 4 - winter / competition

Yuri was having some of the best sleep that he had had in ages. Sure, the floor was hard, but he was warm, and there were blankets, and the scent of content omega was washing over him. He knew there was a warm body next to him, but his conscious mind was a million kilometers away. The soft purring of the omega keeping him deeply asleep.

The rest was disrupted as his door was abruptly opened, slamming as it slid all the way into its pocket. "Yuri!" 

If Yuri had been fully awake, he would realize that whatever was causing Victor to wake him up was bad -- anytime Victor called him 'Yuri' these days was bad.

Yuri did not want to get up, and really, ignoring Victor was something he was very good at. One thing he was not good at though was ignoring Yuuri. "How could you?"

That woke up Yuri. The betrayal and pain in Yuuri's whine, made him open his eyes to look up. There, he saw Victor and Yuri standing there -- and it wasn't even light out yet. Victor looked mad and Yuuri looked hurt. As he tried to figure out what he had done, he felt movement right behind him and then he heard a soft omega whine.

As soon as that whine registered, he felt his eyes closing and he was relaxing again. Yes, he wanted to go back to sleep with the omega. Then suddenly the soft whine turned to one of more pain and Yuri was turning as he stood up, putting himself between the omega in pain and the two alpha's in his room as he growled.

The growl faded as he woke up enough to remind himself that it was Yuuri and Victor, but not before Victor started to stand up straighter, looking more like the dominant alpha the man was. However, Kenjiro was hurting and Yuri was conflicted. When the omega slinked past them, ignoring all the posturing to run to the toilet to throw up, Yuri whined -- not an alpha noise, not an omega noise, something weirdly in between. "Out of my way, old man!"

He pushed his way past the others, rushing after Kenjiro as he hurried to Kenjirou's side, quickly realizing the omega man was hungover. As the need to protect rush wore off, Yuri felt how his heart sank, his stomach suddenly tight as he looked at the two alphas that were upset at him.

"Yurio!" This time it was Yuuri being mad at him. "When Kenjiro didn't come home last night we were worried about him, and when no one was answering their phones!" 

"I had mine off, I don't have it set up for Japan yet so …" He tried to keep his voice calm. A protective alpha was a dangerous alpha, and that was something a person should never forget.

"We thought we could trust you." Yuuri was frowning.

"I -- I took care of him!" He gestured to Kenjino, and sure, the man was throwing up and had drunk too much, but he was fine.

"We saw the photos." Yuuri was still the one speaking as he frowned at Yuri. Victor though was looming right behind his mate, and Yuri knew that that was the real danger.

"What photos! I didn't do anything." He sighed, leaning against the doorway as he stayed between the ill Kenjiro and the two alphas. As he slid down the wall, he pulled out his phone and turning it on. He sighed, "Just -- settle down you two. What the…"

As soon as Yuri had his phone on, the notifications started going off. "Ohh yeah, the almost fight." Of course, there was an image of him facing off against that other alpha.

> **
> 
> Alpha alpine skier Tanaka Riku and presumed Alpha figure skater (Russia) Yuri Plisetsky were photographed fighting over the affections of omega former figure skater and now coach Minami Kenjiro.
> 
> After the standoff was disrupted by security, the two were photographed leaving the event with Kenjuro's lipstick clearly visible on Yuri's skin. It is unknown where they went, but it is confirmed the alpha and omega left together.
> 
> Will there be an announcement of a mating soon?
> 
> Kenjiro is well past the age when most omegas have found their mate; however, the young Russian alpha is still actively competing and only nineteen (20 on March 1st)
> 
> **

Yuri sighed, shaking his head as he looked up. Of course, there were a bunch of pictures from last night. He looked from Kenjiro to the two alphas, "Look. I did not do anything last night. I put him to bed in my bed and then slept on the floor."

"Yuri!" This time it was Victor. "We found the two of you … you didn't have sex last night?" 

With a sigh, Yuri shook his head, "Trust me, sleeping in these pants would not be a choice I'd make."

Yuuri sighed, "See, I told you we didn't have to worry. Yuri would take care of Kenjiro, he's a good alpha. He's not like one of those…"

Victor frowned, "If he even is." Now Victor had his eyes narrowed at Yuri. "He's never come out and said …"

"Victor! He doesn't have to tell us if he doesn't want to."

"Oh for fuck's sake! I brought the drunk boy home last night and didn't do anything. Now you are acting like I need to pull down my pants so you can gender check me?" Maybe it was overreacting. He didn't care right now. He saw how they were looking at him like a threat. "Or is that it? You're jealous? Why didn't you both go with him? If you three are having some sort of triad thing going on, leave me out of it." He stood up, glaring at both of the alphas but then he whined as he heard how Kenjiro was whimpering from the noise.

"No!" Yuuri's eyes widened as he shook his head. "We just …"

Victor nodded, looking Yuri up and down with a frown. "It's all over the press now. You are in a foreign country, think about how things will look if you go running off chasing someone else right away."

"I didn't … I didn't do anything, Victor!" Yuri couldn't help the frustrated sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. "Look just … I will figure this out, just -- give me a few." He stood up, looking at the two alphas that now seemed much less upset, worry replacing the hotter emotions of earlier. 

"We just worry, Yurio. Not just about Kenjiro but about you too, being a young alpha is hard …" Yuuri let his words trail off as he saw how Yuri was rolling his eyes, but more importantly how tired the young man looked. "Why don't we talk at breakfast. Just … don't do anything …"

"Look, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm just going to make sure he's okay and get him back to bed. I'm tired, he's tired."

  
  


Victor placed an arm around Yuuri, nodding, "We will both see both of you at breakfast." With that, both alphas left and Yuri was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The relief didn't last long. He looked over to the crumbled up omega, and the greenish tone his skin had taken. "Come on, let's get you to the kitchen and have some tea."

"No …"

"No?"

"I'm sorry, yes, if that's what you want … alpha."

His eyes closing, Yuri took a moment, counting to ten slowly in his head before he said anything that he's regret, "Kenjiro? How about this? Let's go back to my room, and I will go and get tea and bring it back? You need something to settle your stomach." He let his voice soften, carefully reaching out with his hand to press the back of his fingers to Kenjiro's forehead. "You drank too much, so we need to get some fluids into you, okay?"

When the other man nodded, Yuri moved over, helping him up and then supporting him as he half carried him back to the bedroom. "Kenjiro, just remember one thing. I am not ever ever ever going to order you to do something."

It was only 5 AM by the time Yuri had Kenjiro back in the room, tea in hand, and pain killers already taken. He was busy making the man comfortable with the blankets that had been pulled to the floor. Finally, the man just mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Shh, it's fine. It's not your fault that the press is stupid and took a bunch of pictures and then threw them up on the net with all kinds of bullshit they didn't know anything about." Yuri couldn't hide how tired he was though. Five hours into the new year and already things were going horribly.

"No." Kenjiro shook his head, shoulders slumped and looking miserable. "I dragged you into this. You didn't ask for this…" 

"Don't worry about it. It'll be fine. I mean … unless there is someone you like that is going to take all of this the wrong way?" Yuri hadn't thought about that possibility. When Yuuri and Victor had basically decreed that he had to fake date Kenjiro out of some misplaced idea of propriety … Yuri really hated this.

"NO!" He shook his head too fast as he protested and suddenly looked nauseous.

"Settle. It's … just, here. Give me the cup, let me …" He set the mostly empty cup of tea on the nightstand before helping the other man to lie down. "You just lie down. Nothing is going to change between now and breakfast so there is no reason to think about it. Okay? Just close your eyes, I'm right here." He wrapped himself around the back of the smaller omega, holding him tight as he gently stroked the man's blond hair, letting his fingers play with the dyed red streaks in it.

There wasn't enough fight left in the other man and he fell asleep in Yuri's arms. 

As Kenjiro's breathing settled, Yuri ended up on his back looking up at the ceiling. This was so bad. He hated lying, but he'd been lying his whole life. It was why he was alone. He didn't want to mislead the other man. He didn't want to lie to Victor and Yuri -- no, every instinct in his body told him he was supposed to submit to those two. He wouldn't though.

This was every alpha's dream, ending up with a compliant and cute omega in their arms, well maybe not every alpha. Some were like victor and Yuuri and preferred other alphas. Most though preferred a cute small omega, and Kenjiro was undeniably that. They didn't want a tall, bitchy omega who didn't listen to anyone and would fight with alphas. They didn't want an omega like Yuri. He knew the only reason he had been able to keep his secondary gender hidden for so long was that everyone looked at his behavior and assumed he was an alpha.

It was why he knew he had to be alone. He couldn't risk trusting anyone with the truth.

His eyes closed to keep the tears in place because alphas didn't cry, Yuri tried to think of anything else. He tried to run through his skate routines in his mind. He tried to think of anything else, anything so that he wouldn't be thinking about how alone he was. 

* * *

At some point, Yuri had fallen asleep. He hadn't set an alarm, but when he woke up it was to someone gently stroking the loose locks of hair from his face. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew when he opened his eyes that the softest honey-colored ones were looking back at him. "Oh … hey…"

"I didn't want to wake you, but I smell breakfast and…." Without finishing the sentence, Kenjiro was leaning down to kiss him. It was quick, over before he really knew what was going on, but the gesture was so sweet.

"I'm sorry about last night." Yuri wasn't thinking yet, his brain still caught up in dreams of not being alone. He reached up, letting his fingers thread into the other man's hair.

"You didn't do anything bad, I'm the one who got drunk around alphas that I couldn't trust." He let his eyes drop as he said it, the unconscious need to be submissive showing itself.

"Shh, it's not your fault that they were assholes. They should have left you alone." He didn't fight at all when Kenjiro leaned in to kiss him again. It had been so long since he'd been able to kiss someone, and yes, this was dangerous, but he wanted to so desperately.

"Do you … were you just … did you…" He whined, looking at Yuri and clearly not wanting to ask what he needed to.

"Just … ask whatever it is. I promise I won't get mad." Yuri let his voice move into something more comforting as he tried to reassure, but there was a vibrato to the words as his own urge to purr tried to take over.

"Did you only protect me and go with me because they asked you to?" 

Yuri paused, the quick 'yes' he was about to say cut off by how those eyes looked. The openness and the emotion in them … oh, how those gorgeous honey eyes were ready to overflow with tears.

"Kenjiro … that is such a long name." He sighed for a moment, all of the ways he knew to softly let someone down not ones that would work here -- not with someone he was going to see every day and who the two men he needed as coaches wanted him to fake a relationship with. "There's a lot about me that you don't know. You're beautiful, and of course, those alphas were trying to get your attention. That the situation happened at all was my fault though because I should have stayed with you. I could have said no. I didn't. If I didn't think spending the evening with you would be better than spending it alone in my room -- I would have told them no."

It was at least truthful. It wasn't the complete truth, but Yuri couldn't risk that. Instead, he reached up, wiping away a tear that threatened to fall. "Shhh, don't cry. How are you feeling?" He reached a hand to brush those blond and red strands back, positive neither color was natural as he felt for any signs of a fever.

"I think the medicine and the tea … I feel icky, but fine. You … you took really good care of me."

"Good. We're going to have to get up, and we're going to have to face those two -- and you know how they are when they're … you know, being themselves like that." His voice was still gentle as he kept running his hands through the other man's hair.

"What are we going to tell them."

"We'll just find out how long we have to fake dating. Then, if it's OK with you, we can just tell people we didn't end up being compatible and we're just going to remain friends?" They hadn't been friends before this. Maybe the offer of friendship would be enough to keep Kenjiro from crying though, and Yuri didn't think his heart could take watching that man cry.

The little smile wasn't expected, but Yuri would take it. Kenjiro nodded, "Yeah. I -- friends would be nice?" He dropped his eyes as he said it though.

Yuri forced himself to smile. It would be nice if it didn't have to be fake, if something in his life didn't have to be fake. He couldn't risk it. "OK, I am not going near them until I get cleaned up though so do you want to rest here while I go and take a very quick shower." He knew he needed it. Maybe he smelt enough like Kenjiro right now that the other man hadn't figure out his secret, but he couldn't risk it around the others.

He tucked the omega back into bed, promising he'd be right back and left him resting there with Potya curled up at his back.

He took as fast of a shower as possible, throwing his hair up into a messy bun, but he didn't spare any of the scent blockers. First, the medical-grade ones were applied to all the major points, then a skin cream applied to every last inch of his body that he could reach. Finally, a scent neutralizer rubbed on just under his earlobes and to each of his wrists.

By the time he reached the room, he was wearing just a T-shirt and jogging pants, but his scent was as noticeable as that of a rock. He couldn't stop the whine though when he saw Kenjiro had fallen asleep. They had to go to breakfast though. They had to get this over with. He grabbed the smallest pair of sweat pants he had and helped the other man into them before throwing one of his old T-shirts over that small frame.

Everything an omega was supposed to be, still only 155cm, and so warm and soft … a few kilos had been gained since retirement, just enough to round out some of the sharp edges. In everyway he was so different than Yuri. Every day, he was in the gym keeping his muscle definition. He was twenty centimeters taller than the other man and not one of his sharp angles was smoothed at all.

"I'm sorry." Kenjiro's words were barely whispered, but they made Yuri stop short.

"For what?"

"Whenever you look at me, you look sad." Those honey eyes were looking up, hurt and clearly not knowing why Yuri reacted like that.

"It's not you. I just … you're …" He took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. He was too tired to think of a lie. "You're a perfect omega and I don't want to hurt you."

It took a few seconds for Minami to get over his confusion. "Perfect?" 

"You're so delicate, and soft, and … pretty." At least the truth didn't make him sound like he was being a jerk.

"Is it because alphas aren't supposed to be gorgeous?"

Yuri sighed, "Come on. Let's not talk about that. We need to get through breakfast." He led the way, his hand going to Kenjiro's back as he kept him close -- and it was exactly as he expected the room to be when he got there. Under covers, food was waiting, but Victor and Yuuri were both sitting, right next to each other.

"The two of you took your time." Victor was not happy.

"Good morning to you too, Vitya, So nice to see both of you not barging into my room and accusing me of things." Yuri sat next to Kenjiro, keeping himself between the omega and the two alphas.

"What Victor means to say." Yuuri shot a glare at Victor, making sure the man stayed quiet. "Is we just want to know what the two of you were planning. Considering everything that is out there right now."

"We were going to go and let Kenjiro get a proper shower and his own clean clothes and then take a walk, probably down by the beach, and yes, I know it's cold -- but I don't want to be around anyone." He sighed, looking down at the table. "We've agreed with your demands to fake date for a period of time, we just need to figure out how long that has to be so it causes him the least inconvenience."

"Cause me the least? I don't want this to be horrible for you! I mean, you're an internationally competing skater and you have Europeans coming up and worlds and you should be able to concentrate on that and not on worrying about me!"

"Hush, it's fine. I have no personal life. I skate. I go to the gym and the dance studio. If you take over some of the petting of Potya, that will actually free up almost all the rest of my time."

"Do you think you can make it realistic?" Victor clearly was not happy yet.

"I'm ignoring you right now." Yuri wasn't going to deal with Victor, instead, he reached out to pull the covers off of breakfast, making sure food ended up on Kenjiro's plate first. He wasn't even thinking about how this looked to be taking care of the omega in such a stereotypical way.

"Make sure you both bundle up enough. I don't want anyone getting sick." Yuuri's look had softened and he hit Victor's hip as soon as the man was going to say something. "Maybe Kenjiro should go with you to Europeans?"

"What?" Yuri looked up at that, trying to figure out what they were doing.

"So you have a coach with you, if you're going to be coming to the rink to be in our skating group. Victor and I have outstanding commitments and it's not a lot of advanced notice. It's not too late to submit a coaching change, is it?"

"I can probably …" Yuri sighed, "There isn't a real way to say no to this is there."

"It would only be proper for you to keep him near you Yuri. Freshly dating, everyone would expect it."

Yuri agreed, whatever stupidity they came up with, he knew he didn't have a lot of room to say no. The entire time just feeling bad about how Kenjiro didn't have a lot of say so in this.

Finally, they were about to get out of there to walk back to Kenjiro's … when Yuri confirmed that yes, the omega lived with them. A few glares though and Yuuri and Victor agreed to 'do a few things at the onsen' before going home.

By the time they'd get back to the house, Kenjiro and Yuri were already long gone.

It was winter, and with the cold breeze coming off of the ocean, walking along the beach didn't last long. They took a couple of pictures, things they could use for social media later when they decided what to post. For now though, Yuri was worried about how cold it was so he steered them back to the proper parts of the town and ending up in the little bar Minako ran. It was new years day, and hardly anyone was there, just people with no place else to go.

Yuri was looking at apartment listings in the back of a paper, frowning as he marked ones that seemed like they'd work and Kenjiro was next to him. Originally the plan had been for him to take care of the words in the paper that Yuri didn't know -- but it soon because very clear that Yuri's reading of Japanese was not as good as he had thought it would be for this.

"What are you two doing?" Yuri sat up straight, he hadn't even realized the older alpha had snuck up behind him.

"I'm going to be here for a while and I can't keep staying at the onsen."

He didn't know how it happened, he swore he had said he didn't need help or a hand out -- but not an hour later, he had a key in his hands and a verbal 'just pay me when you can' from Minako and Yuri and Kenjiro were walking up the steps to an apartment over the dance studio.

"This is nice…." Kenjiro walked around the apartment, looking at the small kitchen. It was unfurnished, but that wasn't the most important thing at the moment.

"It is -- and she said I can use the dance studio when I want." 

Kenjiro walked through the living room, opening the door to the one-bedroom there was, "This is bigger than I thought it would be."

"I could probably borrow a futon from the Katsukis until I can get some furniture ordered." He was looking at the wardrobe in the corner when he heard Kenjiro gasp. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, come here…." He had walked over to the window while Yuri had been walking through the bedroom, his hand now placed on the cold glass. "It's snowing. That's good luck."

He walked up behind the smaller omega, nodding, "It's so pretty. Winter gets so grey in Saint Petersburg." His own, larger hand pressed to the glass next to the smaller hand.

"Will you tell me what's wrong, Yuri?" His tone was so soft, no it was hesitant to ask.

"I … " A step forward and Yuri was pressing his forehead to the cold glass, "I keep thinking, can I trust you -- but I … I have to trust you. I can't let you post anything about us without telling you the truth, but it's so …" 

Yuri sighed as he looked up, the clouded sky hiding the sun as the snow fell, giant flakes covering things so quickly in the sudden squall. "I … I'm not an alpha." He gasped as he realized he actually said what he had been thinking for so long and wanting to say, "Don't tell Vitya and Yuuri. They, they can't know. I … I don't tell people."

Yuri's heart was racing as he looked down at Kenjiro, but he owed the man the information. This was why he didn't date, it was too dangerous.

"You're a beta?" That didn't make any sense to him, looking up at Yuri who had been so protective of him. "I've never kissed a beta before." He smiled a little though, if that was all that was wrong, that wasn't anything that couldn't be worked around. All the old laws about what dynamic could be with what dynamic had long been thrown out. Victor and Yuuri were both alphas and that was fully accepted.

"No. I'm not a beta. I'm a … I'm an omega." Yuri looked away as he saw the shock in Kenjiro's eyes. It had been nice while it had lasted. It was clearly over now.

"You can't be!"

"You can leave. You don't have to stay. Makeup whatever you want about me, say I'm an asshole and you woke up today and realized how horrible I was and you're glad I'm gone and … I'll leave the country, I don't know -- I … I … I just…." Worse than how his voice sometimes growled was when his voice cracked like this. When emotions welled up and the pain was so much that he couldn't talk.

"Why would I …" Kenjiro reached out, placing a hand on Yuri's shoulder as he turned him to look at the other man, "You're an omega?"

Slowly, Yuri just nodded.

"But you're so tall and handsome and strong and brave and …" Sometimes Kenjiro could be brave as well. He stood up on his time toes, moving in to brush his lips against Yuri's. When he saw how much pain was in those green eyes, he whined, moving his arms around Yuri's neck to pull him in for another soft kiss, this time, so hesitantly, it was returned.

Kenjiro had never thought he'd be kissing an omega, but if that omega was Yuri, then he was more than happy to press their bodies together and kiss as the snow outside turned into a full-fledged storm.

  
  



	3. Day 5 - Bad Decisions

The sun had set on New Year's Day and with the snow, Yuri and Kenjuro were still at the apartment. Neither of them wanted to move, instead, with Kenjiro on his lap, Yuri was making posts to social media.

> [Picture of an empty apartment with the window in the center showing the heavy snow falling. His bare feet are in the picture but there is a second pair of bare feet just barely able to be seen, another set of toes.]
> 
> ! Snowed in. Found an apartment, don't have any furniture -- at least the electric is on. Staying warm though. So, the rumors are true, I'm going to be in Japan for a while at least, training under Katsuki Yuuri -- oh and I guess Victor too. #japan #SnowedIn #NewCoach #NiceAndWarm

Kenjiro laughed as he saw it, "You know my toes are in your picture."

"I know. Let them wonder -- no, they'll know they're your toes, after what happened yesterday." He leaned in to kiss the back of the other man's neck, letting his lips wander softly over the skin. They'd been kissing for two hours now. Yuri wasn't ready to stop either.

Pulling away and laughing, Kenjiro shook his head, "I guess I should make my fake dating post?"

"Yes, definitely. You know how Victor expects us to fake date -- for your honor or something." Yuri moved right back in to nip at Kenjiro's neck. He was being so careful around the scent gland just barely letting his teeth trace over it.

Giggling, Kenjiro grabbed his phone, posting a picture from the beach earlier.

> [Kenjiro's hands holding a piece of pale green sea glass. The distinctive colors of team Russia sweatpants can just barely be seen in one corner of the picture.]
> 
> !Found a beautiful piece of sea glass before it started to now today. It reminds me of something incredibly beautiful. This year is off to an amazing start. #SnowedIn #NiceAndWarm #GreenIsMyFavoriteColor

Before posting it, he showed it to Yuri who laughed, "I like the repetition of the tags. Go for it. It'll make this fake dating more realistic."

As Yuri's lips moved back to his neck there was more laughter. "All of this practice will so help in public."

With a soft growl, Yuri pulled the smaller omega closer, letting all of his possessiveness out. "Don't wanna bring you out into public. There are assholes out there, going to keep you all to myself."

"You are so …" With both of their phones vibrating with the notifications from the posts, Kenjiro turned around and pressed Yuri to the floor as he kissed him.

For once, Yuri didn't have to hide, letting the purring in his throat sound as he held the other man to him, holding and kissing as the snow kept falling. Nothing could last forever, and soon Kenjiro's phone started to chime the music from Yuuri's eros program. "Is that honestly your ringtone?"

"Just for him." Breaking off the kissing, he grabbed his phone, flicking it onto speakerphone as he said hello. The call screen showing an image of Yuuri in the black and silver costume from his short program that year.

"Where are you? It's storming out there really heavy. They're saying it's not safe to drive anywhere! Victor and I thought you would both be here so we went to the onsen, but my mother said she hasn't seen you or Yuri since this morning!"

Even with how worried Yuuri was sounding, Yuri still rolled his eyes at that and took the phone. "We're snowed in, Piggie. So we're safe, we're warm, and we're posting on social media to make this whole fake dating thing Victor is demanding looks realistic."

"Where are you? What did you post?" Neither Kenjiro nor Yuri said anything as he heard Victor start talking in the background of the phone call. They just waited for Victor to finish showing Yuuri the social media posts and the two of them bicker a little.

"Are they always like this?" The words were just whispered into Kenjiro's ear as Yuri went back to kissing along the lobe. 

"Always." The smile though at the answer was bright and clear. Then, louder and into the phone, Kenjiro interrupted Victor and Yuuri's bickering. "Yuri has been taking great care of me. We went for a walk, and we had something to eat at Minako's bar, and then she had an apartment she had for rent over the dance studio, so that's where we ended up at when the snow really started, so we're just staying here until it stops snowing."

"I saw the posts, how are those to make people think the two of you are dating? And Yurio, you should have been keeping an eye on the weather, you had Kenjiro with you."

"He's an adult, Yuuri. He doesn't need me to babysit him." Rolling his eyes again, Yuri moved his lips back to Kenjiro's neck.

"The snow is stopping, you both should come to the onsen as soon as possible. If you're at the dance studio, it isn't that far. I don't want anyone getting sick and it's getting dark."

"People don't get sick from dark." Yuri couldn't hold back the snide comment on that.

"I know that, just I will feel better when I see Kenjiro with my own eyes." This time Yuuri whined and they both knew what they needed to do before Victor got assertive.

"We'll give it another twenty minutes for the snow to taper off just a little more, then we will walk back to the onsen, okay? I just want to give it a little more to make sure it'll be safe to make the walk." Yuri tried his best to placate the two alphas. Even as he did, his hands stayed on the other omega, feeling how Kenjiro melted into his arms.

Victor seemed to take the phone from Yuuri, "Be careful. Text me when you leave. Text me if anything comes up. Text me if there are any delays."

"Yes, Vitya, I'll do that. Don't worry. I will take good care of him. Okay?" Yuri sighed as he moved to kiss down Kenjiro's neck, moving to nip at the man's collar bones.

"Fine. We will see you when you get here." Victor was abruptly cut off as Yuri slapped at the phone to end the call.

"How do you deal with them being like that."

"They aren't that bad?" Kenjiro's hands hand found Yuri's hair and he was purring so loudly as his collar bone was peppered with nips.

"You live with them." 

"I do but … My parents wanted me to …. Ohh, that makes it so hard to talk." The purring was altering the tone of Kenjiro's every word as he smiled.

"Uh huh, your parents?" He didn't stop what he was doing at all, instead his teeth hit harder.

"Yuri!"

"You can call me Yura?" 

"I can?" Now he was teasing Yuri as he stretched, exposing more of his neck.

"I mean, you are my fake boyfriend after all." He moved his hands down to the man's hops. "You smell …" He sat up, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the other man, "You smell a lot better than you did this morning."

Of course Kenjiro would know what Yuri was hinting at. "I shouldn't be?"

"Maybe just -- "

Suddenly Yuri was cut off as Kenjiro leaned closer, "You smell better."

"There is no way I am approaching a heat. I'm on two suppressants and a blocker.

"Maybe we just smell good together?" Kenjiro leaned in to take another deep inhale of the other man.

"Hopefully." Yuri wasn't entirely able to hide the worry in his voice.

"If not … we have each other, right?" For all his confidence earlier, it was much softer now with maybe just a hint of fear to it.

"Yes, of course… I … I'm not good at this, I haven't had a lot of a chance to … I mean, if you even wanted to." Yuri stood up, taking a deep breath as he walked over to the window as he looked up at the clouds, seeing the snow stopping.

"I don't have any presents on me. I … don't have any experience with this either." He looked over to Kenjiro, taking a deep breath before he walked over to kneel down in front of him. "Minami Kenjiro, will you allow me to pursue you?" Maybe it wasn't the most normal any more for someone to ask permission to date someone. While some people still did a proper courting, only really young alphas would even consider doing the same procession of gifts and shows of affection for dating. Maybe it was something more associated with old romance novels and TV shows geared towards teenagers.

He smiled at Yuri, nodding, "Of course. Yes." He laughed, looking down at Yuri before reaching down with his hands. They might both be omegas, but to the world, Yuri was pretending to be an alpha, so maybe the over the top gesture was to be expected.

They didn't have time to stay here, instead, all too soon they were bundled up to walk through a full foot of fresh snow to make it back to the onsen. The town was so quiet, no cars were moving and the only sound was a few people out shoveling.

When they reached the onsen, Kenjiro was quickly grabbed by Yuuri as both him and Victor made sure the omega was fine. Yuri just rolled his eyes at them. They assumed he was an alpha, so they didn't spare any attention to make sure he was all right.

"I'm hungry!" As if summoned, Hiroko showed up, brushing her son and Victor away from Kenjiro as she herded him and Yuri to the dining area. The rest of the night was a whirlwind of Victor and Yuuri fussing over Kenjiro until finally, without letting the omega out of their sight, the three of them were going back to their house. 

That night, the onsen seemed so quiet. Even with Potya curled up next to him, Yuri felt like he took forever to fall asleep. The time was spent online ordering furniture for the new apartment. He kept trying to think of things that Kenjiro would like -- never in his life did he think that he would find someone who accepted him as an omega.

Finally, Yuri was able to fall asleep, arms wrapped around a pillow that still retained the scent of the other omega.

* * *

January second marked the end of 'Vacation' and the return to thinking about competition. Maybe this was a horrible idea, but on his way to the Ice Palace, Yuri stopped at a convenience store, picking up mochi and a gift bag. It wasn't the fanciest present, but it wasn't as if this was courting. This was just trying to get someone to agree to date you. The expectations were lower. The expectations were what someone could do with their leftover lunch money.

Yuri had never thought he'd be able to do this. Maybe that wasn't why he stopped just outside the door of the Ice Palace. He knew he'd never have anyone do this for him. No one would ever be waiting out in the hallway for the junior skating group to finish so they could hand off flowers to him and run like he had wished for. Maybe he was a little jealous of the people he had seen have that happen. He hadn't had a normal dating life though, but it had been easy to ignore that while he was engulfed in the pressure of competition.

He didn't know how many alphas had given presents to Kenjiro. He had no idea if these gestures meant anything to the other man. Taking a deep breath, what he did know was that they meant so much to him. He walked in, head held high as he ignored the call out from Victor.

"Oh Yurio, so nice of you to join us finally."

"Not my name, Asshole!"

"Yurio, be nice!" This time it was Yuuri standing up for Victor.

"Not my name, Piggie."

"Hi, Yura!"

When he saw Kenjiro smiling and waving, he let himself smile at that, walking over to where the three coaches were. He ignored Victor and Yuuri for a moment, he was much too tired to deal with them. Instead, he handed the gift bag to Kenjiro with a smile, "I picked up a present for you."

"Thank you." As Kenjiro took the gift, he leaned in to place a soft kiss on Yuri's cheek. 

Without any other words, Yuri walked back to his bag to get his skates on so he could get onto the ice -- and yes, he knew he was late. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kenjiro taking a picture of the mochi, and he knew this would be on social media -- another ode to their 'fake' dating. 

He couldn't think about it right now. Instead he found his way out onto the ice. He needed to work on his skills. He needed to be ready for Euros. It was only three weeks before he'd be skating in France. 

Hours later and Kenjiro was teaching younger students as Yuri finally got off the ice. Every muscle in his body was burning from what had to be one of the hardest practices he had done in ages.

He didn't even argue as Yuuri told him to go back to the onsen. The hot spring would do his muscles good.

He knew he couldn't spend every moment with Kenjiro, and maybe a little space for a day or two, letting them both make sure this was something they both wanted would be good.

More ordering and he finalized things for the apartment, but for today, he'd still be at the onsen. As he relaxed in a private bath -- there was no way he was risking be in a public bath where one wrong move could possibly expose his secret. Instead, in the private bath, Yuri pulled out his phone.

The furniture would start arriving tomorrow, but he knew Minako would be around until he was done with skating so she could let the delivery people in. He was going to be able to get his apartment together. He didn't know if it would be what Kenjiro liked, but he really hoped the man hadn't been lying when he had said he liked green. He really hoped he was right and that the green that Kenjiro really liked was in his eyes.

He started texting, sending messages to Kenjiro

> << I saw you posted the mochi … were they good?
> 
> >> They were, thank you. You know, you don't have to do a proper pursuit if you don't want to.
> 
> << Is that you saying that you don't want me to?

For a moment, he was worried that he had misread the other man. It was so much harder to figure out over text. When he had the man in his arms and they were kissing everything made much more sense.

> >> I didn't say that. I meant if you … If you want to, it's kind of nice. I haven't had anyone do that since I was like… fourteen?
> 
> << I am younger than you
> 
> >> True … but not that much younger?
> 
> << I never got a chance to pursue anyone when I was the age where a 100 yen flower would be enough of a present?
> 
> >> Then I look forward to tomorrow
> 
> << I wish you were here. I had a hard time sleeping last night
> 
> >> Is that why you were late? You should have said something. 
> 
> >> Yuuri would have made sure Victor didn't work you as hard as he did
> 
> << No, it's fine. I need it. Yakov's vision has been going for a bit, so yeah, my jumps needed it
> 
> >> I'll see you tomorrow
> 
> << tomorrow 

Yuri sighed, putting down his phone. He'd deal with Victor and everything else tomorrow. Tonight, he fell asleep quickly. He needed the rest. With his arms still wrapped around the pillow, he closed his eyes and drifted off into dreams of not being alone.

* * *

The next day Yuri showed up to practice with a little china figure of a cat that looked very much like Potya. It was wrapped in Tissue paper and handed over to Kenjiro without comment and a smile. 

He didn't hear anything from Yuuri or VIctor about his fake dating of Kenjiro, but he assumed he was doing a good enough job that they were pleased. That did not mean that he didn't end up working on the edge of his Lutz until he swore he would scream if he heard 'Yurio, you need to get your outside edge deeper' one more time. 

It was what he needed though. He needed to get his jumps as perfect as he could. He had the height and rotations, he couldn't lose points on sloppy execution.

For as good as things were going, later that day, he suddenly realized that he had made a very horrible decision. He always did things like this. The first of the furniture had been delivered,, but instead of buying assembled real furniture, he had taken the cheapest way possible -- bad habits from his youth - and had gotten nothing but flat-pack pieces.

Decisions had to be made, and having a place to sleep became the priority as he started to throw himself into what was a complicated bed with storage underneath. Three hours later, and he was just sitting there, staring at the instructions and the drawers he had assembled. One of the tracking devices for the under bed storage was in his hand as he tried to match it up to the diagram. This didn't make any sense. He rotated it back and forth in his hand, frowning at it. The entire place was covered in cardboard and styrofoam and miscellaneous boxes of things. He wanted to throw this stupid allen wrench across the room

With a deep breath, he shook his head, resting his eyes against his palms as he tried to calm down. Getting mad was not going to help. Getting mad was bad, it was something he did all too often. Why hadn't he gotten a simple bed. No, of course, he couldn't do that. He had done everything that he could to make sure that he had enough room for not just his things, but for Kenjiro's things … even if they were barely dating.

He jumped when he heard his phone buzz, digging through parts and papers to find where he had set it down. It had to be here someplace. Finally, hidden in the plastic that had covered the mattress, he found it, answering on what had to be the last second before it went to voicemail.

"This is Yuri."

"Hey…"

"Oh… hi." He hadn't expected it to be Kenjiro, but the second the voice registered, he felt some of the stress leaving him.

"I was just calling to check how you were doing?"

"Uhhh… this was a bad decision." He let himself lie back on the floor. He needed this break to talk.

"What's wrong?" Now there was concern.

"I -- I'm not good at this. I've never been good at this, and I'm … I don't even know how many hours into this and I don't even have enough of this assembled for there to be room for the stuff being delivered tomorrow to fit in the place, so … I might not be able to stop by the rink tomorrow." That was the worst part. He needed to bring a present to the man he was pursuing and he wouldn't be able to.

"Have you been working this whole time?" Kenjiro's voice still radiated concern for him.

"Yeah -- I'll .. probably take a little break in a bit but …"

"No, I'm coming over."

"What?" Yuri sat up as fast as he could. "I can do this."

"I know you can. You don't have to do it alone though." The softness in Kenjiro's voice was clear and all Yuri could do was agree.

He tried to pick up a little while he waited for the other man to get there. Maybe he couldn't get the bed built, but he could at least make it look less like a cardboard box factory had blown up in his apartment.

He had barely managed to clear some floor space when there was a knock on the door. While he expected Kenjiro to be there, what he didn't expect was to see Kenjiro there with a bag from a Chinese take out.

"You brought food?"

"Of course. I …" Standing in the living room, he smiled up at the other man, "I thought it was only fair if I pursued you as well -- so my first gift is take-out."

Yuri didn't know what to say as he felt tears well in his eyes. He had long ago given up on anyone ever doing something like this for him. All he could do was wrap his arms around the other man, holding him close and whispering a thank you. Maybe being pursued hadn't meant that much to Kenjiro, but it was instantly clear how much this meant to him.

Without a table or chairs, they ended up sitting on the floor in the living room eating with the chopsticks from the bag. Utensils and such were expected to be delivered tomorrow. Before they were done eating, they ended up closer and closer. As much as Yuri wanted to just hold Kenjiro now, they ended up back working on the furniture - leftover Chinese in the fridge.

It only took Kenjiro about five minutes to figure out the drawer slides, and once that hurdle was done, the rest of the bed went together quickly. Mattress in place and the bedding set on top of it, the nightstands were opened up and those went together quickly.

Yuri had lost track of time, this entire process so much less frustrating with Kenjiro to help. Two people really made all the difference. When Kenjiro's phone chimed, Yuri kept putting together the drawers they were working on. Those at least were one person tasks. He nearly dropped his screwdriver when he heard what Kenjiro said.

"Yuuri, I was thinking it was just easier to stay here tonight. We got some of the furniture put together, but there is still so much to do."

Yuri sat there, listening to half a conversation, and stunned.

"I trust him. I would think after the other night you would as well."

There was a pause as Kenjiro walked back into the room. "I am an adult. If I chose to spend the night with him then that is my choice, and no, it hasn't been a few little gifts that have made me think that -- stop being so … " Kenjiro whined as he realized he was yelling at Yuuri -- Yuuri who had been his greatest hero for the longest time. "Yuuri, I -- I am staying. No, he isn't pressuring me. He's looking at me like he is so worried because I'm getting upset that I'm fighting with you."

Yuri couldn't just sit back, he stood up, walking over to Kenjiro to take ahold of the phone. "Yuuri. You've known me for how long? Have I ever -- and I mean ever done anything to make you think that I would do anything but take a relationship with someone very seriously?" He let his arm wrap around Kenjiro's waist, holding onto him as he closed his eyes, keeping the man close as he waited for Yuuri's response.

"You're right. I -- you're right. Be careful with him, but I trust you." When Yuri heard Victor saying something in the background, he heard Yuuri snap at Victor before adding, "We both trust you."

"Thank you." Yuri hung up the phone, setting it down onto the nightstand. "I'm … I'm thinking it might be time to call it a night? Make the bed and … "

"And curl up in bed together?" Kenjiro was smiling as he reached up to wrap his arms around Yuri's neck, pulling the man down into a long slow kiss.

"I'd be honored. I mean, how many guys would walk into this insane mess of boxes and turn it into something resembling …" Then Yuri looked around, realizing how bad it actually still was.

"We'll get more done in the morning. It's not that bad."

"It's that bad." Yuri laughed though, not wanting to let go even to make the bed. They had to though, ending up curled up in the bed with every last blanket that was in the apartment piled on around them.

Softly, Yuri pulled Kenjiro into the messy nest, kissing him as he held the man in this unfamiliar bed, "Is it wrong I'm kinda worried the bed is going to fall apart?"

"It's sturdy. You were doing a great job."

"I needed the help so much." He let his lips brush over the other man's. Tonight he was so much more able to enjoy being wrapped in blankets. After the hard work, he knew his scent blockers had worn off. He knew he smelt like exactly what he was, and omega who was very very happy.

"I was going crazy only seeing you at the rink." Kenjiro burrowed his head into Yuri's neck, letting himself really take in the scent of the other omega as he laughed, "I never thought I'd be attracted to an omega."

"Well, I didn't think I'd find an omega that was attracted to me so …" Yuri's laugh had a hint of sadness that he was trying to hide.

"Maybe I was just waiting for the right one?

"I hope the right one is me."

"I don't want to think about if it isn't." Yuri kissed the man again, this time pulling him in closer. They were still dressed, but they hadn't been dating long. This was good, this was nice. Kissing each other and using the blankets to hide from the streetlights that still poured through the windows since they didn't have curtains yet. That was okay though. They could hide from the light together. 

  
  
  
  



	4. What I want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 of Rare Pair week - Pets/Domestic 
> 
> Potya is brought to Yuri's new apartment, and then finally so is Kenjiro.

Paper Rings Chapter 4

There was no true rest from training if you were Yuri Plisetsky. There were little respites though, and waking up half-dressed in a nest of blankets with Kenjiro was one of those. He reached over to his nightstand, turning off his phone alarm and smiling that there was a second phone right next to his. He leaned over, pressing a kiss to the other man's forehead and he was so tempted to stay in bed. No one would notice if he stayed in bed for another hour, and it was so warm and comfortable. He didn't. He slipped from the covers, trying his best to not wake the other man before writing on a scrap of cardboard 'Morning run back soon'.

The snow everywhere in town didn't make any difference. He was used to this, he'd run in much colder conditions. Layers were the secret. He hadn't done this in too many mornings, and he knew he had to get back into his training habits. As the snow-covered pavement passed under his shoes, his mind was able to wander. He wasn't used to this. It had been so long since he had dated, and he didn't know if it was supposed to feel like this. Maybe he just wasn't used to being happy.

His mind flew through his life. From the moment he had been smuggled to his grandfather's apartment in Moscow, his fate to be alone had seemed set. That day, his name had been changed. Yuri's new patronym and family name those of his grandfather. One forged birth certificate had been all it had taken to buy the boy his freedom from his past and the tragedy that had befallen his mother.

He stopped along a pier overlooking the ocean. Was he making the same mistakes? His mother had fallen in love when she was so young. Well, maybe she had. The world even just twenty years ago for an omega was different now. He trusted Kenjiro. Was it love?

His mind not settled at all, he decided to cut his run short and go back. No, he couldn't live his life hiding forever. He was an adult now. Maybe it was time for things to change.

On his run back, he paused at a florist. It was so early, but they had just flipped the sign to open. Fifteen minutes later, he was walking into his apartment, smiling that he heard the shower running. The table was assembled, even if the chairs were still in boxes, so he placed the vase of yellow and red streaked roses on the table. Sometimes you just had to take a risk.

It had only been days, but did that matter? Maybe … he was still fumbling with a ribbon when the bathroom door opened and a very wet Kenjiro walked out with just a towel around his waist.

"You got me flowers?" His hair was still wet, a mess that was constantly falling into his eyes.

"One second… There we go. Yes … and…" Yuri stepped back, the extra apartment key now tied to the vase.

Yuri stood there, feeling his heart beating as Kenjiro walked up to the table, reaching for the key tied to the vase, "For me?"

"Yeah … " He swallowed as he felt his normal defenses rising, but he was too nervous and worried to resist the snark, "I mean you don't have to. It's a present, you don't have to accept it…"

"Yura …" Kenjiro didn't wait for Yuri to even look up, he threw himself into the other man's arms in a hug as he wrapped his arms around him with enough force to knock them both back against the box the couch was still in.

His arms wrapped around a very bare back, Yuri was kissing back as Kenjiro seemed determined to pin him down with not only kisses but by straddling him. As Yuri's hands slipped down, he realized the towel had been a casualty of this at some point.

Before he could do anything, there was a loud knock on the apartment door.

Whining, Yuri pulled back from the kiss, "If that is the TV being delivered, I am going to be very annoyed." Another quick kiss, Yuri had slipped from Kenjiro's arms, but he had to sit there for a second, just drinking in how the other man looked, his legs in a W and the towel a mess in his lap -- covering everything, but showing so many gorgeous lines on the smaller man's body. He didn't want to move, but when there was a second knock, this one louder, Yuri pulled his eyes away, getting up to walk to the door. "Coming!"

What he didn't expect was to see Victor and Yuuri at the door. "Uhh…" Yuri knew it wasn't the most articulate phrase, but it was all that came out of his mouth.

Victor looked around the apartment, seeing Kenjiro trying to straighten his towel, "I see. You clearly got so much furniture put together last night. A table." He walked in, brushing past Yuri and ignoring the loud sigh and exasperated moan from the youngest of them.

Before Yuri could argue with Victor, Yuuri was tutting, "I had thought …. I mean, we can't really say anything about how either of you spend your time …" Yuuri held out a backpack to Kenjiro, "I thought you'd want some clean clothes."

Yuri closed his eyes, knowing there wasn't much he could say. When he saw how Kenjiro was looking at Yuuri though, something snapped in him. The man he loved looked ready to cry, those big honey eyes filled with tears as Kenjiro looked up at Yuuri. While Yuri could brush off the disappointment from those two, it was clear Kenjiro couldn't.

"Hey!" When everyone looked at him, Yuri realized he hadn't really thought past that. "We started with the bedroom furniture since having a bed was the priority."

"Oh, I am sure it was." Victor's cold response came without pause.

"So we got the bed with the storage put together, two nightstands, a dresser, and a wardrobe." Yuri let out a loud sigh. "Oh, and the table."

Yuri was glaring at Victor, but when wasn't he? If they weren't both on the ice, the power struggle between them never seemed to go away.

"Yuri didn't do anything bad." This time, Kenjiro made himself speak up. "He bought me flowers this morning." Walking over to the vase, he plucked the key from the ribbon as he held it up, looking to Yuuri, "And a key."

"A key?" Yuuri walked up closer to Kenjiro, placing a hand on his wet hair as he looked down into his eyes, "I …" He paused, looking over at Yuri, "I'm his friend. You don't get to drive off his friends just because we're alphas."

"I wasn't! I … Yuuri!" Oh, how Yuri hated when his voice wandered into the petulant whine range, but that was what was happening and he was helpless to stop it. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm … I'm trying so so hard to do this right! I … Yuuri, I love him. Ok? Is that what you want me to tell you? I love him!" Yuri froze, realizing what he had just shouted -- but it was true.

Yuri kept looking at Yuuri, he knew if he looked at Kenjiro right now, he'd either fall apart or do something stupid. Of all the expressions he didn't want to see was how Yuuri looked at him the softest of pity. "No … I'm serious, don't look at me like…" He trailed off, turning to look at Kenjiro. Maybe that was what he should have done first.

Ignoring Victor and Yuuri, Kenjiro walked forward, not seeming to care at all that he was only in a towel. He reached up, hands on each of Yuri's cheeks as he held his face, pulling him down enough to be able to kiss the other man.

It was the breaking point, and all Yuri could do was wrap his arms around the man he loved, keeping him close. It didn't matter if Victor was mad -- and he could tell Victor was mad.

The kiss couldn't last forever, and with Yuuri sighing and Victor crossing his arms, Yuri knew this would go poorly.

"Yurio, you're so young." The logic and 'caring' coming from Yuuri.

"You've only been together for a few days. Do you not think 'Love' is a little strong?" For all the aloofness of Victor's comment, if you knew the man, the concern under it could be heard.

"Kenjiro? Why don't you get dressed while Victor and I talk to Yuri." Gently, Yuuri took a hold of the man's arm to guide him to the bedroom so the omega could get dressed in privacy.

Yuri didn't want to let go of the man, but he did, standing there alone now. The snow and sweat from running enough to make him cold, but he wasn't going to admit that in front of them. He just waited for the lecture to come.

"Yurio." At least the lecture was starting from Yuuri, "You're really young, and we know you really have strong feelings for Kenjiro, but it can be very very heady to have attention from an omega, especially as an inexperienced alpha."

Yuri's head shot up at the word 'inexperienced'. It was true. They'd know that he hadn't really dated. There had been something ages ago with Otabek, but that had ended up not happening. They didn't know why. They didn't know it had been because Otabek had thought Yuri was a young alpha and was interested in how he'd be after presenting as an alpha -- and Yuri had been too scared to tell the other man his secret.

"Yuratchka…"

"Don't use that name on me, Vitya. Don't. Yes, you're older than me, but you've been gone for a long time. I … you don't know me like that." His voice was sounding hollow. Without Kenjiro in the room, his drive to fight this had been drained.

Maybe it was the right tone to use. Normally he did everything to provoke Victor -- rather intentionally or by accident. This time, Victor's tone softened. "You're young, Yura…" The same level in familiarity as Yuri had shown him was used in return. "Just, please, slow down a little and think. You don't know if being in Japan will work out. You have competition. He has work. You … you're not even twenty yet." Victor reached out, placing a hand on Yuri's shoulder, "If it is meant to be, he'll wait for you to be positive and to take your time to think through things."

"Just be careful with his heart, Yurio." When it was Yuuri that said it, sometimes Yuri didn't even fight the nickname. "He's an omega, and he's admired you for a long time -- and then you walk in looking like a model one morning and by that night standing up for him and threatening to fight other alpha's for him -- it's fast, it's really, really fast."

Yuri knew that everything they were saying was true. He knew that it came from a place of concern. Maybe they were right. "Can I take him out on a date Friday night?" Maybe he shouldn't have to ask them, but it was far from unheard of for an omega to have 'guardians' even if the omega was an adult and more than capable of taking care of himself. It was a holdback from when omegas had fewer rights, and Yuri knew it. 

"Of course!" Yuuri's relief was clear. "Of course you can, I am sure he'd love that."

Victor reached out to place a hand on Yuri's shoulder. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right."

Yuri ended up agreeing, his mind was in a haze though. When Kenjiro finally left with the two alphas, the flowers and their vase in his arms, Yuri smiled and tried to seem happy. He'd told them he'd take a shower before heading to the rink, it took much longer than that though. As soon as the door closed and his apartment was empty, he didn't know what to do with himself.

Once he got to the rink, practice with Victor didn't give him a chance to think. Lutz after lutz, there was no end to it. He couldn't go back to the empty apartment though, not after knowing how the place felt when it wasn't empty.

That night, he brought Potya back to his apartment. All of his things were now moved out of the onsen, and as he looked over the new boxes that had been delivered while he had been at the rink, he had to decide what to do. Now, knowing Kenjiro wouldn't be there, it seemed less pressing to get the apartment nice. Instead, he started on one of the new boxes. In the small storage room, he set up the weight bench. Keeping muscle mass as an omega was a never-ending struggle -- and he didn't want Victor or Yuuri to see how much, they might suspect. Maybe that was the paranoia, but he couldn't let anything risk being allowed to date Kenjiro.

That night, he ate the leftover Chinese, one chair put together for the table, with Potya stealing a piece of chicken to eat under the table. Then, with Poyta jumping on the instructions every time he needed to consult them, he got the couch assembled. The TV stand was easy enough. The bookshelf for next to that was just tedious, nothing complicated. With the bedroom furniture and all the drawer sliders put together the night before, the rest of the furniture seemed to go incredibly fast.

He stayed up much too late, but by midnight, he had the TV unboxed and put in place with a laptop next to it streaming a show while he had Potya on his stomach while he held a blanket that still carried the scent of Kenjiro.

With Potya purring on him, he was finally able to fall asleep there on the couch. The bed alone was just too much right now, but the couch was something he could handle.

The rest of the week went the same. Running in the morning, jump practice with Victor, coming home to eat something, and then strength training. It was exhausting, but it was what he always did. The boxes he has sent from Russia arrived, only three of them, but they contained all the things that he hadn't been able to leave behind, but that he hadn't been able to bring on the plane.

A picture of him and Lilia, pressed close and smiling in front of the Mariinsky theatre from White Nights two years ago, a picture of him and his grandfather after his first skating competition when he had been seven. A New years picture of him and Yakov when he was fifteen, standing in front of a tree -- and no one had ever noticed that it was his grandfather's tree. Carefully, he placed the last picture. This one of a beautiful blonde woman, so delicate looking and clearly an omega -- and in her arms a little infant wrapped in a blue blanket. They were almost certain the baby was him, they did know that that was his mother, and it was his only picture of her. With all the furniture assembled and most of the essentials already here, it looked like an actual apartment now.

The pictures started being put on his social media. Potya on the bed, Potya on the couch, Potya in the window, Potya on the kitchen counter. She was there for him every moment he was home, close to him as if she knew how hard waiting for Friday was.

When finally Friday happened, Yuri woke up without even his alarm needing to go off once. His run was faster than normal and he ended up pacing the apartment until it was time to go to the rink. When he walked in, he saw all three of them there. Friday had more lessons, but they were mostly later. This morning, it would be just him on the ice.

What he hadn't expected was for Kenjiro to come running over, throwing his arms around him to pull Yuri into a hug that so quickly turned to kissing. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too…" Oh, that didn't begin to explain how Yuri had felt these past few days. He had missed him so much.

"I saw all the pictures."

"I saw you liked them." He didn't know how long he'd be allowed to stand there, arms around Kenjiro and softly talking. He knew Victor would put an end to this, but every moment he could get, he was going to take.

"I can't wait to see it in person."

"Are they going to let me take you home tonight?" Yuri just whispered the words. Everything felt better now, now that he had him in his arms.

"Yeah …"

Before Yuri could express how that made him feel, Victor called out from the bench, "Yurio! We aren't getting any younger. Get on the ice and start warming up."

He didn't even argue about the name, instead, he gave Kenjiro one last kiss before moving to a bench to get his skates on, moving out onto the ice to start warming up.

What he didn't expect was for today to be working on the whole program. He had assumed they'd be moving on from the Lutz practice, but he had expected another jump to be picked apart relentlessly. Instead, he was in center ice, eyes closed as he waited for the first notes of his program.

If he had been in full control of his training, this is what he would have done. To take this time to show off in front of Kenjiro and let him see the full program. With the deeper edges, his lutz combo was cleaner, but the real change was this love song that Lilia had chosen now had so much more meaning for him. He wasn't just performing it anymore, he was living it for the man he cared about.

The edges were deeper, the spread eagle stronger, the cantilever lower to where his hair trailed across the ice and his fingers just above the cold surface. It was the best he could do -- and then, for the next three hours, Victor went over the video with him in the office, nitpicking every tiny detail of every element. The cameras at the rink had captured every move in HD from four angles.

By the time it was over, Yuri was mentally exhausted and frustrated. He had wanted to show off to Kenjiro, not perform his free skate once and then spend the rest of the time alone with Victor. He wasn't expecting the hand on his shoulder as VIctor smiled, "Now why don't you go home, rest a little and then pick him up at six. I expect both of you to be at the rink tomorrow by noon."

Yuri hadn't expected permission to keep Kenjiro overnight, but the offer made him smile. "I'll take very good care of him. I promise."

"I know you will. You've always been so protective. I think you're good for him, and we all know he is good for you."

When Yuri got home, the words still echoed in his head. He had never expected approval. The only thing tainting it was wondering what Victor would have said had he known the truth. No one needed to know. Everyone who needed to know already knew about his secondary gender. It didn't affect anyone else. Kenjiro accepted him and that was all that was important.

As Potya meowed at him, he set out food for her and freshwater. Then he got dressed up. They were going to a nice restaurant tonight. He showed up at the door to Victor and Yuuri's house wearing his 'nice' coat. It was actually the 'going to church with Lilia' coat, and he sometimes wore it when he had to dress up for something with a Gala. Either way, it was a nice wool trench coat. He had dress pants and nice shoes as well as a car waiting. He wasn't going to walk along the slick roads and sidewalks in dress shoes. He had almost just worn boots with his dress pants, but then he realized that was just not how things were done here.

The handoff was mercifully short, just a few 'threats' from Victor to 'be careful' and such. It would have been longer except Yuri reminded Victor three times that he had a driver waiting for them in the car.

The restaurant was nice -- the fact he knew people snapped pictures of the two of them walking into the restaurant together was less nice. Unfortunately, they stood out so people were able to easily notice them. He was relatively tall, but his long blond hair and incredibly Slavic features stood out. The fact his hair was braided back didn't help. Kenjiro wasn't any less noticeable. The blond and red streaks standing out so brightly. Honestly though, Yuri loved how the man looked. He'd never done boring, and Kenjiro was anything but boring.

Dinner was small talk and laughter. Yuri had forgotten how much of a kick saki could have and Kenjiro looked adorable with his cheeks all flushed. The photos were forgotten as they just enjoyed being alone with each other. Tipsy Yuri was less proficient at reading Japanese on a menu, but Kenjiro was more than able to read it -- even if every explanation was filled with giggling.

Nutrition plans could be forgotten for a little bit as they splurged on dessert. Dinner was over all too soon, even if it had actually been long and savored, it still seemed over too fast. They had to leave eventually though, walking out with Yuri's arm placed around Kenjiro's waist. They were back in another car and driven back to Yuri's.

The night was late enough that Potya was sleeping on the couch as they entered, stretched out on her back with all four paws in the air. As soon as they had their shoes off, Kenjiro turned to him, whispering, "I have a present for you?"

"A present?"

"Uh-huh." The crooked smile emphasizes the one slightly askew tooth as he took hold of Yuri's tie and started to walk backward to the bedroom leading yuri with him.

"Oh …"

"Uh-huh." The man's eyes looked positively predatory as he brought Yuri back to the bed. "A present." He started to strip off his clothes, not having bothered to turn the lights on. Instead, the little bit of light that the curtains didn't fully block was all the illuminated Kenjiro as he stripped all of his clothes off.

Yuri couldn't tear his eyes away, watching as his omega lover stripped. He might not be the most experienced, but he damn well knew to start pulling his own clothes off. "You're amazing."

Laughing, Kenjiro shook his head, "We have to buy you a mirror. Have you seen you?"

Instead of arguing, Yuri tossed his belt to the side, moving forward with only his pants still on as he pulled the now naked man in for a kiss. "You're amazing." He wasn't going to listen to anyone say Kenjiro wasn't -- especially Kenjiro himself.

As his pants were pushed down, eventually being kicked away, Yuri climbed onto the bed, never letting Kenjiro leave his arms as his mouth moved to the man's neck. He mouthed over the scent gland there, letting his teeth brush it but not biting -- biting would be too much.

As Kenjiro moaned, he passed something from his hand to Yuri's -- and as Yuri glanced at his hand, he nodded. He was ready. The condom packet held onto as he kissed over the other man's chest. He licked and nipped, feeling every last soft spot on his body. Nips to the shoulder and rough licks to the nipples, his hand kept on Kenjiro's hips. When the moaning became even needier and Yuri swore the room was spinning, his lips moved back to press to his. Only then was the packet opened.

They had to be careful, but Yuri knew exactly what Kenjiro wanted. Hooking an arm around the other man's knee, Yuri pressed against that slit, knowing exactly how fast felt good. Rough, but not too rough and soon with bodies pressed together, he had Kenjiro moaning. Hand in each other's hair, they moved together. Their scents blending into a mixture that had Yuri's head spinning even more even as he thrust as hard as he could. It was fast, but he was so close and he desperately needed this.

His lips locked over the scent gland on Kenjiro's neck, the one that someday he might be allowed to bite, but for now, he sucked, and then he felt the man buck up against him. As those tight wet walls contracted, gripping his cock, Yuri kept moving. He wanted to make this feel good, he needed -- he didn't even know what he needed, everything falling to instinct as he felt his body tighten and then blinding white flashed behind his eyes.

Maybe he blacked out, he didn't know. When he did know was the next thing he knew, he was on his back in the bed and his lips were being softly kissed. A loud purring noise filling the room, both of them in perfect sync with each other as in the aftermath of pleasure nothing could stop them both from purring.

Tomorrow seemed forever away. Now, all Yuri wanted was this forever.

  
  
  
  



	5. Will you ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this, Rare Pair Week 2020 is done for me.
> 
> Side note, my other two fics for this week are technically prequels for this if you want to check them out.
> 
> When Yuri was 4 - [ Secret's kept ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22136848)
> 
> and
> 
> When Yuri was 15 - [ Yuri Plisetsky - Alpha skater ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/22176445)
> 
> Both are optional and aren't needed for this story :) They just add a little more background.

Paper Rings Chapter 5

It had been three weeks and tomorrow, he and Kenjiro were flying to France for Europeans. Yuri was so far past nervous right now. He was actually walking up and down a back hallway of the rink trying to distract himself while the 12-1 pm class finished. He stopped pacing, trying to clam himself as he moved his feet into fourth position, then let the back leg move away as he bent his lead leg.

People were always so used to seeing the beilmann as the layback position with the back arch, but Yuri kept his perfectly straight, seeing how deep he could get the leg bend and knowing that what could be done in shoes wasn't always the same as on skates -- but this is what comforted him. He used to spend so much time in the little dance studio on the first floor of Lilia's house. He missed her so much right now. He missed having someone he could talk to.

She was on a boat right now, somewhere in the Mediterranean and unlikely to have internet access. It was good for her and Yakov to take a true vacation, but right now -- right now he wished he had someone he could talk to.

He didn't even hear Victor walk up behind him. "You should use a barre when you do this." He reached out, taking hold of Yuri's arm to give him some support. "Why are you so nervous? It's Europeans, you're the favorite by twenty points."

"Kenjiro is calling his parents after class."

"And …" Victor's tone softened though. He still didn't like it when Kenjiro spent the night at Yuri's, but he'd stopped fighting it as much.

"I'm going to meet them for the first time -- over the phone." He tried to hide the fear in his voice. He couldn't cloak that insecurity that had plagued him all his life.

Yuri didn't expect the reaction. He was pulled into Victor, his face pressed to the alpha's shoulder as he was held tight. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Victor was twelve years his senior. Right now, he near crumpled as Victor held him, a strong hand on his back. "Is he your first serious lover?"

With how Victor's tone was so warm, Yuri felt himself nodding. Victor didn't need to know that it wasn't just his first serious lover, but his first at all.

Victor pulled him in tighter, the grip turning protective. "It'll be all right. They're nice people, and if Yuuri's parents can accept an alpha for their alpha son, at least you have the benefit of being an alpha for their omega son?"

Victor was left confused as suddenly Yuri ran off.

* * *

Yuri didn't know that Victor had gone to Kenjiro and told the man what had happened. He didn't know that Victor had taken over the end of the class so that Kenjiro could throw on shoes and go looking for Yuri. What he did know was that soon, his little hiding hole behind the rink and the loading ramp was invaded by the other man and he was pulled into a hug.

"What to tell me what's wrong?" They were in private enough, he didn't have to treat Yuri like an alpha so he pulled him against him, letting his arms wrap around him. He settled in, letting Yuri lean on him as he let his fingers stroke through the other man's hair. He could feel how Yuri was relaxing, and it was what he had hoped for.

"Victor was trying to make me feel better." The words were mumbled against his lover's chest.

"What did he say?" Kenjiro's voice stayed calm. For as similar as Yuri and Victor were, the two seemed to constantly be at each other's throats. However, on the ice, the two were a nearly unstoppable team.

"He said I shouldn't worry about talking to your parents because they should be … they should be happy, but he said because he's an alpha and with an alpha and Yuuri's parents accepted that, then expecting yours to accept me should be easy because …"

"Because I'm expected to find an alpha." Kenjiro leaned over, kissing the top of Yuri's head, but then moving to kiss his lips as they moved around until kissing was easier.

"I think he was at least trying to say I'm a good alpha?" Rolling his eyes, Yuri moved in to kiss at Kenjiro's neck. "Except I've more than slightly bruised you here…"

"That's still from Saturday night and I was screaming for it."

Yuri laughed at that, moving to nip at Kenjiro's lips. "You are demanding."

"Of course I am, I have the best boyfriend in the world!" Now Kenjiro was laughing as Yuri moaned and rolled his eyes. "Are you ready to talk to them now?"

Yuri sat up, moving to sit more properly next to Kenjiro, "OK, let's just … get this over with."

Pulling out his phone, Kenjiro called his parents on the cell phone, going straight to a video call.

While Yuri normally was great at following along with Japanese, he had entirely underestimated the accent that Kenjiro's parents would have. Combined with the speed that they were talking, Yuri was lucky to be getting every tenth word. Then, Kenjiro slowed down his speaking to say, "And this is Yuri Plisetsky. He's the top-ranked skater at the moment … and he's my boyfriend."

Yuri did his best to seem confident and smile. They had agreed they were going to try and do their best to not lie, which meant the best thing to do would be for them to assume he was an alpha. "It's nice to meet you. We thought we should say hi to you before running off to France for competition tomorrow." He smiled, faking that he was entirely confident as he placed an arm around Kenjiro's shoulders, pulling the man a little closer and being sure he was sitting up as tall as he could. With how the other man snuggled, he knew they looked like a stereotypical alpha and omega couple.

He was surprised that Kenjiro's parents knew who he was -- and that evidently Kenjiro had been talking about his skating for years. After promising that of course, he would take good care of their son on the trip, the call mercifully ended. He knew that they assumed he was an alpha. All of the media reports were that he was an alpha - and if he thought about it, there was every chance that Kenjiro's parents had seen that. Tonight they would be expected to be in different houses, but until then, they could spend time together. The relief from the that being over though was almost as nice as hiding behind the rink and kissing his boyfriend -- until Victor and Yuuri were ready to leave.

Yuri made long before he was texting Kenjiro

> << I wish you were here
> 
> >> I wish I was too
> 
> << I miss you.
> 
> >> I miss you too. I wish you were here.

Yuri paused. It was late. It was dark. However, he had an idea. Potya was already at the Onsen so that Hiroko could take care of here while he was gone. There was no reason he had to be here …

> << Are you willing to risk them being mad?
> 
> >> To see you?
> 
> << Are you?
> 
> >> Always

Yuri shoved his phone in his pocket, he had an idea. He knew the layout of the Katsuko-Nikiforov house very well. He gathered all of his things, just a suitcase with everything he'd need and his skate bag. Then he talked the thirty minutes to the other house. Once he was in the back garden, he texted Kenjiro again.

> << Open your window
> 
> >> What?
> 
> << Open your window and help me with my luggage.

The window was opened fast enough that Yuri was actually worried that Victor or Yuuri would hear. Between the garden shed and all the snow that had fallen, it wasn't that much of a climb to get to the window. Both bags were handed over and then he crawled in, with a leap from the shed to the window that frankly was stupid and too loud, but it worked and soon he was clambering in through Kenjiro's bedroom window.

He had the other man in his arms, pulling Kenjiro into a kiss as he pressed him back onto the bed before he even had taken off his jacket.

Laughing, Kenjiro tried to pull the jacket off him, but Yuri kept on just pressing him back into the bed with kisses. If either of them had been thinking, they would have been much quieter. Instead in the wrestling between the coat and the kisses, they both fell out of the bed, landing on the floor with a loud thunk. 

Before they could extract themselves from each other's arms, the door flew open when Yuuri ran in, "Are you …" The concern on Yuuri's face froze as he realized what had happened. Kenjiro's short was half off, Yuri's coat half off, and a pile of luggage sat in the middle of the room. "Yurio!"

As soon as the word was out of Yuuri's mouth, Victor was looking over his husband's shoulder. "You couldn't wait until tomorrow night?"

Yuri expected disappointment and anger, instead, he got a sigh from Yuuri and a shrug from Victor. 

"Yura, next time use the door?" He walked into the room, closing the window and then looking at the pile of luggage, "You have everything packed?"

"Uhh, yeah?" Yuri had no idea how to take this apparent acceptance.

"Fine. I expect both of you to be asleep by ten. We will be leaving here for the train station at seven." Even with Yuuri seeming surprised at that, Victor led his husband out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Alone again, and this time without having to worry about being discovered, Yuri paused to look at Kenjiro, smiling as he pulled off his jacket and tossed it onto the pile of luggage. Kenjiro's bed was much smaller -- but it was just intended as a guest room initially. His apartment, he had intended to be theirs, so he had gotten a larger bed.

Kenjiro was watching Yuri has he stripped down, watching as the man tossed away his shirt, "Did they just -- leave us here?"

"Uh huh." Yuri rolled his eyes, "I'm a good alpha, remember?"

"Get over here, alpha." Kejiro reached out, pulling the man into the bed as he leaned against Yuri, whispering. "Get over here, my omega." 

Yuri climbed into the bed, pausing to look at Kenjiro and with a soft kiss, whispered, "Are you honestly happy with an omega?"

Shaking his head, Kenjiro smiled, "No, I'm happy with you. Just you. Not an omega, not an alpha, not a beta -- I'm happy with you."

The only response to that was to kiss him, Yuri pressed Kenjiro back onto the bed, kissing him to try and hide how those words had brought tears to his eyes. It was exactly what he had needed to hear. He pulled the man's clothes off, tossing fabric to the floor as he pulled the blankets over them.

As soon as they were both under blankets, he moved his mouth to Kenjiro's neck, hit teeth pressing, but not biting, but so so close. Then, kissing that sensitive flesh, he pulled back, "That's all I want, to be your omega and for you to be mine." Yes, it was an insanely unconventional dynamic to be in a relationship, but it was what they were, and Yuri couldn't wish for anything more.

He laughed as he was pushed over, one arm against the wall the bed was against, but Kenjiro moving to straddle his hips. "My omega."

Yuri's eyes widened at that, but he couldn't lie that Kenjiro being possessive didn't send a thrill through his body. Then as the man reached down between Yuri's legs to run his fingers along his slit, Yuri was absolutely sure of what his boyfriend intended and a soft keening noise escaped his lips as he spread his legs, putting up absolutely no resistance. This was more than he had ever thought he could have in life. This was perfect.

As fingers penetrated him, his hips bucked up, wanting more. This was so much better than when it was his own fingers. To have the warmth of his lover over him, feeling him and trying to bring pleasure was everything.

"Yuri, is this..."

"Yes, please, yes." He knew Kenjiro was looking for permission, and he was willing to give that man permission to do anything. He wasn't thinking. He only wanted this.

Grabbing a condom from the nightstand, Kenjiro looked down at Yuri and just froze for a moment. "You … you don't even look human. How did I get someone as beautiful as you to even look at me?"

Yuri didn't know how to answer. He knew he was beautiful, but it had always been some abstract concept. It had been a performance for the ice and life, one carefully crafted under Lilia's hands. "You love me for me." Maybe it was a simplistic answer, but it was the truth. So many people in Yuri's life had let him down. So many people in his life were ones he had to live a lie around. With Kenjiro, he could be honest and himself, and he was still loved. "Kenjiro, please make love to me?" Maybe it wasn't the 'fuck me' he had thought would fall from his lips, but this wasn't that. This was being touched with absolute reverence, and as his lover slid into him, nothing in the world could have felt better.

He wrapped his legs around Kenjiro, holding on as the man thrust into him. Lips pressed to each other as hands wandered every inch of flesh that was accessible. Never before had anyone done this, no one had ever been trusted, and Yuri didn't know how to handle how every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire. This -- this was perfect. The press of flesh, his own cock trapped between their bodies as Kenjiro kept moving. There wasn't a fight for dominance, it was shared, perfectly between them and Yuri wanted this to last forever.

Of course, it couldn't. He felt his fingers did into Kenjiro's back as something intense washed over him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, he couldn't do anything as a wave of sensation crashed against him. Wet seed spilling between them, as everything Kenjiro was doing became too much and he lost himself in a voiceless scream as the orgasm washed over him.

It wasn't long before Kenjiro came as well, gripping him tight and whispering his love against Yuri's neck.

Yuri didn't want to let go -- ever. He wanted this, forever. "I love you."

Kenjiro leaned into him, kissing back as he whispered, "I love you, too."

"I -- no, I love you, I love you and …"

He sat up in bed. He knew what he had to do. He sat up, pulling two 1000 yen notes from his wallet.

"Yura, what are you doing?"

"I .. I love you." He was folding the notes, and he knew this was crazy. He knew this was much too soon, but he folded both bills into a paper ring, "Kenjiro? I … I don't have a proper ring…"

"Yura?"

"I promise to get you a better ring as soon as I can … if you say yes?" If he had been thinking, he'd have gotten down on one knee. No, if he'd been thinking, he'd have waited until he had a proper ring instead of something more suited for a schoolyard fake marriage.

"Are you asking…" Shock radiated across Kenjiro's face.

"Minami Kenjiro, will you be my omega and my husband?" His heart was racing as he asked. His hand shaking as he held the paper ring out to the other man.

"Yes." He offered his hand to Yuri, smiling as the paper ring was slid on before leaning in to kiss him. "Yes, a million times yes."

There would be hell to pay in the morning for this, but for tonight, with only a paper ring as proof, Yuri fell asleep with his fiance, finally happy.

  
~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~  
  



End file.
